Tula Mi , Mala Mi....

Today was the concluding day of the "Kala Rang" festival which is held in Margao every year. The organisers always succeed in getting the best talent from across India to Goa, and I'm thankful and glad for all the work they do!

This year saw performances by Pt. Hari Prasad Chaurasia, a beautiful Bharatnatyam performance by my guru- Lalan desai and Alka Lajmi, The play White Lily and Night Rider and Rima Lagoo's "Tula Mi , Mala Mi".


Today's play again was a masterpiece! Here are the synopsis:

Madhavi Rajadhyaksha, a college professor teaching English Literature, occasionally pens short stories in Marathi. One fine day she releases a book penned in English. The book gains international recognition. It becomes a bestseller. Madhavi receives such significant remuneration that she resigns from her job. This invites accusations that Madhavi has written the book in English with the sole intention of acquiring maximum royalty. She is also accused of exploiting her sister’s illness and her own husband's marital problems in order to increase the book sales. A Marathi movie based on Madhavi's book is produced. A leading television channel invites her to speak. What will happen when Madhavi begins to confront the accusations leveled against her?

Details of the play:

TULA MI MALA MI is the Marathi adaptation of eminent playwright Girish Karnad's original Kannad play. The play has already been produced in Hindi (BIKHRE BIMB) and in English (BROKEN IMAGES). The Marathi version has been produced by O Rima Creations and has already seven shows to its credit. The Marathi adaptation, direction and music have been done by Vivek Lagoo with technical assistance from Samir Lamaye and special contribution from Shekhar Dhavlikar.

My views:

There's just 1 person on stage with her 2 images- 1 her real self and the other that we see on a TV screen on the stage! The whole play is about Madhavi, the writer talking to herself who appears on the TV screen.

As the play unfolds we come to know about Madhavi's real story! The interview that she gives to the TV channel shows her to be a happily married writer, who writes a book based on her paralysed sister.


There are several accusations levelled against her - about a marathi writer, coming out with a book in English which goes on to become a best seller., about writing about sexuality etc. But this is just the tip of the ice berg.

As the story unfolds we realise that Madhavi actually never wrote the book! We realise that the book was originally written by her ailing sister Mukta , who is much more intelligent and beautiful but Paralysed. in the final 6 years of her life, Mukta stays in Madhavi's home. Madhavi's husband Pramod and Mukta are deeply involved and the entire book is actually a true story written with explicit details in dialogues and their complex triangle of relationships!

Reema Lagoo, no doubt has done an excellent job! It is not easy to time the performance according to the pre recorded herself talking to her from the TV.

Rating: A must watch, A different kind of play!
Hats off to Mr.Girish Karnad for writing such a beautiful script!